Big boost for brittle business

CONFECTIONARY maker Bendigo Brittle was recently announced as one of a hundred winners of Australia Post’s Local Business Heroes program.

The program aims to recognise and support smaller businesses with more than 5000 enterprises nominated this year, with the winners receiving a $5000 business package.

Bendigo Brittle founder and CEO Greta Donaldson said it was a special relationship that led to the nomination.

“We really get on well with the guys down at the Golden Square Business Hub,” she said. “They’re a good mob and really supportive.

“They said ‘the Local Business Heroes are coming up again and we’d like to nominate you’ so I got online and had a look at it and thought I am really going to have a go at this.”

Entering the program came at a good time for Ms Donaldson who said she needed to create a short film on the business for a separate reason.

“It said you could write your application or you could do a video,” she said.

“I started writing a script, we had to have it all done by February, so we went down to Castlemaine Farmers Market and filmed down there one day, and it all came together.

“I knew with the team I have and the team putting it together it would come up really well and I was really pleased with it.”

When the winning call came through Ms Donaldson said she was thrilled, and the next job was putting together the $5000 business package that came as the prize.

“The prize itself was a choice of eight $1000 prizes of which we could select five,” she said. “They’re all to do with helping the business.

“There is a little laptop and a printer, some computer software as well. There was a 12-month business coaching part of it.

“There are also some posters that will go up on the local post office wall for a month, but they have been known to stay up for the year which is really nice to get that exposure.”

According to Australia Post, the 2023 Local Business Heroes program saw an increase of over 400 per cent in applications from last year.